What do you think of the Eberron-specific races?

[Solarious]

While Warshaper is cheesy for Changlings, it is less so when you consider the existance of the Cabinet Trickster. It makes the Changling functionally identical to the Doppleganger, bar a few details like type, the immunities instead of resistances, and natural weapons, but they have the two important abilities: Detect Thoughts at will and Change Shape into any Medium or Small huminoid.

Change Shape is a drastic enough change to warrant things like Morhpic Immunities, +4Str/Con, and fast healing, as other classes also start getting impressive equipment and abilities of their own (+10 level, which is very close to the 'high' levels). Plus, you need to dedicate at least a few levels to rogue/bard to qualify, and another 5 to get the ability that makes it all click. Besides, now you have a tricky shapeshifter who is now capable of packing a nasty wallop themselves! Won't the people expecting the 'weak rogue' sterotype be surprised?

For extra fun, after finishing Cabinet Trickster, use the Mindspy and use Thought Trick every turn on all those hapless melee types who fail their will saves!

 

[Pseudonym]

I like 'em all, but I've gotten tired of the warforged fanboys out there, along with the perpetual "can warforged swim, can warforged smell, can warforged wear hats, can I have a female warforged with big boobs, can warforged play cards..?????" questions on the boards.

Are you referring to here or the WotC forums?

 

[MerricB]

The Shifter is the one race that doesn't quite work for me and my players; at least, I haven't seen anyone play one.

The Changelings and Warforged are *loved* by my players.

The Kalashtar are very interesting. And, they're a good psionic race, which makes the PsiGuy in my group very happy.

I don't like the Changeling chapter in Races of Eberron; I don't think it meshes well with how they're played or represented in Eberron, but their abilities are fun.

Cheers!

 

[Psion]

Warforged are decent and Kalashtar are actually a very cool take on a psionic race.

The shifters and changelings, however, annoy me. I dislike the convention of willy-nilly mixing races. I find the concept of half-lycanthropes particularly annoying and contrary to the concept of the creature. It would be like catching half a cold.

 

[Anti-Sean]

I find the concept of half-lycanthropes particularly annoying and contrary to the concept of the creature. It would be like catching half a cold.

In the Lycanthropes and the Purge Dragonshard, Hellcow mentions that some shifters in the Eldeen Reaches believe that lycanthropes are descended from shifters, and not vice versa. They claim that the moon spirit of Olarune created them to watch over and protect her children. It may won't do much to ease your distaste with the concept, but I think it's a decent attempt at the very least.

 

[Parlan]

The Shifter is the one race that doesn't quite work for me and my players; at least, I haven't seen anyone play one.

I played a Shifter Barb from lvls 1-6 or so. I LOVED it! First, I really got into the idea of a beastial barbarian.

Second, crunch-wise, he was darned effective. 22 str when raging and shifting, and the longtooth trait meant that he could use a Great axe and get a second attk as well. Tank-eriffic!

Burning all my feats on Shifter feats was a bummer (no Power attack or cleave! ) but he was a lot of fun! I look at the use of shifter feats as the balancing factor for all their other (admittedly powerful) abilities.

 

[Testament]

I don't mind them too much, but they are pretty lazy imaginary work, because they already come prepackaged with abilities and roles in the world, rather than having to create them from scratch like most new races have to.

Que? Shouldn't a race that is part of the world HAVE a place in it?

 

[nameless]

I'm a fan of all the races, but warforged particularly interest me. There is so much potential pathos in the race. They are all adventurers and are going to be noticed wherever they pop up. Every day they are reminded that they are not truly living, when their fleshy friends eat and sleep.

How does a civilized race spend the 8-12 hours a day when everyone else is asleep? It must be very lonely. I imagine that even the most dedicated warrior probably takes up a craft or profession (poetry, maybe) just to have something to do at night. True warrior-poets.

And on top of that, warforged have no family, no society, no country, and no longer have an explicit purpose. They have a soul, but nobody knows where it comes from or where it goes. The isolation and alienation themes really make heroic warforged that much more impressive in my mind. And the mystery of how they were created ties together so much of the world, with that hint of the unknown that makes Eberron so appealing.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

To take up a theme in the previous post:

One of the things that attracts me to Eberron is the way it handles religion. I approve of the ambiguity of the gods' existence, the different sects and approaches to the same faith - all of the things which are reminiscent of religions in the real world.

I especially admire the way the new races, especially the warforged, tie in with the deities. The simple idea of a race thought by many to be soulless, created by people who can't even account for why the warforged are alive, and what the role of religion is for such beings when you can't just go to a powerful cleric and get a straight answer on all of these issues and more . . . there are dozens of character hooks in that alone.

Even a straightforward warforged fighter can spend a lot of his time wondering about these issues, or denying they apply to him, or . . .

I love it.

 

[Victim]

Mechanically, I don't like Changelings. Their big draw is basically the same as a hat of disguise. You can buy a race for 2000 or so gold.